(October 10, 2016 at 1:22 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:(October 10, 2016 at 8:18 am)abaris Wrote: Point is, as I said, I'm very careful with extremes. Admiration as well as hatred.
There are certainly certain things I admire in certain persons. But the whole person? No, according to my definition of admiration, I don't have that feeling for any historical person. Not even artists, who's work I certainly admire. I love Wagner, just to give one example, but there's the person behind the work. And he certainly wasn't admirable. I admire Mozart's work, and, going by all accounts, I like him as a person, but he certainly wasn't admirable in everything he did.
We have different attitudes about it, I was just giving voice to my own.
I think that's fair. Myself, I don't really expect to find a lot of thoroughly admirable people. I think we all have dark sides and inner conflicts. My favorite historical figure would go to the person I'd anticipate having the more enjoyable conversation with, warts and all.
"Admirable" is like "heroic". I'm not waiting to be saved by a hero.
